


Hérdevàrian

by Cheshyhooks



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Family, Frankenstein - Freeform, Monsters, Multi, Vampires, Werewolves
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-18
Updated: 2017-11-18
Packaged: 2019-02-03 18:19:04
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,334
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12753630
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cheshyhooks/pseuds/Cheshyhooks
Summary: With vampires threatening to end the Popescu liniage, Elisabetta Hérdevàry is sent to hunt them down. While there, she discovers that Ivan might have more planned.





	Hérdevàrian

The fire cackled loudly. There wasn't a single sign of life, something Ivan feared. He scoured the ashes for the Beilshmidt monster. If he could find it, then perhaps there was still some hope.   
His mere presence alone scared off the perpetrators who started the fire. With them gone, that left room for his three underlings to swoop in to help him.   
“We must find the monster! We can't leave without him!” He called out.  
The youngest of the three, a tiny figure of a man named Ravis was the first to give up, “Master, I think he's gone. We lost him.”   
“No, he has to be here. Even if he is dead, there must be a body. Not to mention, Ludwig Beilshmidt just proved that the dead can be brought back to life!” The oldest, a man with long brown hair named Toris scoured the rubble desperately. He felt the findings of the monster was necessary. He saw it more dire than even Ivan.  
The third of them, a man with short blonde hair approached Ivan and placed a hand on his shoulder, “I think it's time we give up.”  
Ivan stared coldly at him, “I will not give up.” He hissed, “Eduard, if we have to do this without him, they will die. I refuse to let that happen! If they die I will have no one left!”  
Ravis saw the monster run off in the distance. He paused and looked back at Ivan, “If it is alive, I'm sure it'll turn up. We should be focusing on the Popescu lineage, they could put an end to everything you were trying to accomplish. They made it their dying wish to kill you, don't you remember?”   
Ivan froze for a moment, “I already have Milen, that should give us some advantage, right?”   
Toris thought for a moment, “Is he bitten?”  
“Not by us.” Ivan answered.   
“Perhaps putting them against each other would be ideal. Vladimir would certainly be more resistant to fighting, and Nikki's just a kid and should be really easy to kill. And since the full moon is tonight, Milen should be incurable.”  
Ivan sighed, “You're a genius sometimes, Toris. This is why I keep you around.” He looked up at the black sky, “I think it's time we head home, we have a new puppy to play with.”

 

Elisabetta aimed her gun at the figure. She pulled it up after her target got a bit out of range. She cursed under her breath and snuck closer to him. She knew it didn't matter if she was seen or not, however, a stealthy kill would be ideal.  
Arthur knelt over and trapped the soul of his latest victim. He held up the bottle proudly, “I see you over there, Elisabetta! You don't wanna bring out Oliver now, do you?”  
“If I have to, I will.” She snared. She jumped off the platform and pointed her gun at him, “How about you make this easy for me and you let me kill you now, or we can fight for a little bit. Quite frankly, I don't mind doing either one. I quite enjoy a good fight.”  
He smirked deviously, “Hmm, I'm not sure which one to choose. Let's let him decide.” He whipped out a potion and drank it. His body transformed into that of a large mutant of a man.  
“Oh, nice to see you again, Oliver. I missed you in London.” She stepped a bit closer to him.  
“No, I saw you. You got me pretty good if I must say so myself.” He scoffed.  
“You know why I must do this, right?” She smirked calmly.  
“3 children, 7 woman, wait, make that 8 now. And 4 men.”  
She nodded, “Ah, yes, all found dead. Sorry to cut our time a bit short here old friend, but I've got a job to do in order to maintain the peace.” She shot into his left pectoral.   
He charged at her and threw his weight down on the ground, breaking the wood beneath his feet. He tore one of the planks off and swung at Elisabetta.  
She quickly dodged and pulled out a small knife. She lunged towards his stomach, but he managed to smack her across the face with his plank. She was still able to nick him across the arm a bit though.   
He dropped the plank and grabbed her by the shoulders. He tried to kick her, but she shot her legs up into his face. He staggered away in pain.  
She aimed her gun at him once more, “Do you want to keep playing or can we end this?”   
He roared incoherently and tried running at her. She however was not in the mood for unnecessary kicks at each other, so she shot him in the head.   
She stood over his body as his corpse turned back to Arthur, “Such a shame. Vash wanted you brought alive back in London. You brought this upon yourself good sir. Just wish it hadn't ended this way.”   
She turned and walked out. The sun had begun rising in the distance and she could hear people coming towards them. They crowded around Arthur's body in fear. One of them looked up at Elisabetta, who didn't even bother turning back to look at them.  
“Help! There's been a murder!” They cried out. 

 

The strawberry blonde waited at the desolate outpost. He was silent, but out in the open. He heard twigs snap in the distance, alerting him of Milen’s presence. He smirked, “Come and get me, brother! Ivan let you out for a reason!”  
The large black creature sprinted at full speed. He had a wolf body with a humanoid frame, no tail, and was covered in fur. It had larger fangs and claws than anything Vladimir had ever seen.   
Vladimir was frightened at the sight of what his brother had become, but he had a job to do and couldn't let his emotions get in the way yet. He leapt up, signaling to Milen where he was, while also alerting his hunting party that it was coming.   
The ground beneath Milen collapsed, encasing him into the earth. He howled in protest and fear.   
Surprised that the trap worked, Vladimir approached the trap. He smiled widely, “He's in! Raise him up!”  
A cage sealed off the top and steadily rose.   
“Popescu! There's a malfunction! Get away from there now!” One of his fellow hunters called out, tossing him a gun.  
“What?” Vladimir looked back at his brother, but Milen ripped through the cage like it was tissue paper. Vladimir bolted into a sprint and noped the fuck out. He retreated alongside his fellow hunters, “Why wasn't that made out of silver?” He asked.  
Milen plowed through the other hunters, but stopped eerily upon reaching their carriage. Vladimir felt his heart sink as he remembered who they had waiting in the carriage.   
He charged at his brother, shooting his shoulder repeatedly, “No! Nikki!” He tossed the gun to the ground upon realizing that the bullets had no effect on him.   
Milen ripped out a small ten year old boy from the carriage and sprinted away.   
Vladimir chased after them, desperate to get his baby brother back. He couldn't lose the only family he had left.   
Milen jumped off a small canyon. Vladimir stopped dead in his tracks. There was no way he'd be able to save Nikki now. He screamed in anguish as the reality of being the only Popescu left hit him.   
He angrily stormed back to his fellow hunters, “Were any of you bit?”  
One of them looked up, “No, only scratched.”  
“Good, now would any of you care to explain why there was no fucking silver?”   
They all fell silent.  
Vladimir angrily shouted something incoherent. He took a deep breath and turned to address them again, “We were going after a werewolf! Like most monsters, werewolves are vulnerable to silver! I specifically requested that the cage needed to be made of silver! The bullets needed to be made of silver! There needed to be a silver lock on Nikki's carriage! Do you think I just talk out of my ass? When I request something, there's a Goddamn reason for it!”  
Another one of the hunters raised his hand.  
“Yes? What is it?” Vladimir approached him.  
“I got word from a man with long dusty brown hair that none of the things were made of silver, perhaps you should ask him.” The man had a tiny squeak of a voice.  
Vladimir examined the hair of his hunters. He spotted a cloaked figure with long brown hair. He froze in his tracks upon realizing who it was, “Toris?” He felt fear flood his veins.  
The cloaked man smiled deviously, “It's surprising how easy it is to change and order for silver to steel.” Toris took off his cloak, “And how easy it is to pick off the Popescus.” He faded into a hive mind of bats and fluttered away.   
Vladimir stared hatefully as he flew away, cursing under his breath. He sat down on the grass, “Oh God.” 

Elisabetta approached the Zwingli mansion. She knocked on the door, “Forgive me Vash, for I have sinned.”  
The short blonde man opened the door, “Yes, you're very good at that. Come on in, we got a new mission for you.”   
“So soon?” She asked.   
“Yeah, this one’s a bit more urgent though.” He lead her to a massive laboratory.   
“Care to explain the situation for me?”  
“Remember how our top scientist Ludwig Beilshmidt left us about a year ago? Well, he was on this quest to sever the separation between the dead and the living in a more moral way than turning someone into a vampire or ghoul. Rumor has it, he succeeded in bringing his brother back to life. However, we have received confirmation that he was murdered by Ivan Braginski.”  
She stared at him in bewilderment, “Thee Ivan Braginski?”  
“Yes, the same one who massacred your hometown and family. Anyway, four centuries ago, the Popescu family made a vow to never rest until Braginski was killed. We recently got word that there's only one left. Vladimir Popescu needs help taking him down. We thought that since you have a very similar vendetta against him that you could help him. Also, you kill everyone we send you to capture. Even the last one, thought he'd be easy to keep alive.”   
She scoffed, “Yeah, well Jack the ripper had murdered 21 people, he was irredeemable and I got clearance to kill after he left London.”   
“I know, I'm the one who gave you clearance. Regardless, you're going to need help on this next mission. I suggest a scientist to make more weapons for you while you're out.”  
She nodded and scoured the lab for one scientist in particular.  
“Roderich, you're going on a mission with me!” She called out, running up to him.   
He glanced over his shoulder, pushing his glasses up, “Back so soon? Don't tell me you killed him, did you?”  
She giggled, “Of course. That guy was nuts, and what would we have benefited from by keeping him alive.”  
Roderich sighed, “We could have done so much, anyway, what's this new mission and why am I going?”  
“Vampires, we're gonna kill vampires.” She examined some of his new weapon designs.  
Roderich jumped back in surprise, “I can't kill a vampire! Do you know how hard those things are to kill? Sure, we might know how to take down the weaker ones, but some of them can only be killed by werewolves!”  
“I'm bringing you along because your weapon designs have a very high success rate, besides, I really like you and you did wonderful in London.”  
He scoffed, “But I don't do field work, and I told you that that was a one time thing!”  
“But you're a really good shot when you're under pressure! Come on, just come with me!”   
He sighed and glanced back at his work, “Fine, but we need to do a lot of packing. Which vampire clan are we going after?”  
“Braginski.”   
He sat down, “I change my mind, I don't want to go.”   
“Why not?”   
“Because he was the first vampire! He's the strongest! There's no way we can kill him!”  
She rolled her eyes, “You're the most qualified to go with me! I would have brought Ludwig, but he was killed by Braginski! Come on, I need you!”  
Roderich suddenly looked interested, “Ludwig's dead?” He stared at her in shock, “No! He can't! I promised Gilbert that nothing bad would happen to him!”  
“Yeah, wow, you did such a good job. So, are you coming with me or no?”   
Roderich was hesitant, “Fine.” 

 

Vladimir was preparing for a lone hunting mission. He had to track Milen down, he had to see if his brothers were ok. He grabbed a crossbow and strapped it to his back.   
He heard an unusual amount of commotion from outside his shed. He poked his head out to see what was going on.   
Two brown haired strangers walked into town. The woman had bright green eyes and looked like a female version of Toris with longer hair that was slightly lighter. The townsfolk looked concerned by their presence, but after staring at the woman a bit longer he knew why.  
He stepped outside his hunting shed and examined the skies. He could see the all too familiar shapes of bats in the distance. Judging by how many there were, he assumed that all but Ivan were coming to pay a visit.   
“Hello strangers. Seems you've attracted a lot of attention. Care to explain what you're doing here, Elisabetta Hérdevàry?” He stood on top a carriage as he confronted her. He kept the vampires in his sights.  
She smiled gently, “You're Vladimir Popescu, king of gypsies, right?” She cocked her head to the side.   
“Yes, now would you care to explain what you're doing here?” He glanced up. The vampires were far enough away to where they weren't a concern yet.  
“I'm here to help you. Heard you had some vampires.”  
Roderich noticed as Vladimir kept looking up. He turned around to see what she was looking at, “Elisabetta, behind you.”   
She glanced over her shoulder, “Yeah, it's just some bats, what's the big deal?”   
Roderich anxiously tossed her a gun, “That's how they fly!”   
“What?” She spun around to face the three vampires.  
Vladimir turned to address his people, “Everyone inside!”  
The swarm of bats flew through the three. A third of them separated from the group and conjoined into one being. Toris smiled warmly, “Welcome to Transylvania, newbies. We want to know that you're doing here. It's not often that we get strangers coming to town.”   
The other two appeared beside him. Eduard pushed up his glasses and turned to face Elisabetta, “I know you. We grew up in the same town.”  
Her heart skipped a beat, she wasn't the only survivor! She lowered her gun, “Eduard? Holy shit! I thought you were dead!”  
He chuckled, “You thought correct.”  
Toris glanced over to Eduard, “Ivan told us to kill the strangers. Don't grow too attached, ok? How about this, you handle them, Ravis and I can take care of Vladimir. Sound good?”  
Eduard sighed, “I guess.”   
“Good.” Toris's body tore itself apart, forming into bats. They fluttered over to Vladimir and circled him.  
Vladimir scoffed defiantly, “Fight me like a man, why don't you?”  
The bats managed to lift Vladimir off the ground and toss him through the roof of a house. They quickly followed him, Ravis following also.   
Vladimir groaned in agony as he got off the floor. He shoved his pain aside as both Ravis and Toris stepped close to him.  
Toris glared hatefully at him, bearing his fangs, “Do you know the futility of our bites? Only one out of every ten survives. I would love to see if you'd be able to rise up. I know Nikki wasn't able to.”  
Vladimir took a switchblade out of his pocket, “What did you do to my baby brother?” He snared.  
Ravis smiled deviously, “The master told us to take care of him. He was so small, he couldn't even fill a baby with how much blood he had.”   
Meanwhile, Elisabetta picked up Vladimir’s crossbow, “Hey, Eduard. I don't really want to kill you, but I don't really want to be killed either, so how are we gonna do this?”   
“I'm sorry, but I have to. If I don't, the master won't be pleased and who knows what he'd do.” He hesitated, “I guess it was nice seeing you again.” He lunged towards her. She aimed the crossbow and shot it repeatedly into his stomach. He flew away, the arrows falling to the ground.   
She poured holy water onto her weapon. Eduard saw this and flew over as quick as he could in attempt to get it away from her. He was too slow however, and she shot deep into his flesh. The bats collected into a singular unit, the arrow in his chest. He clutched it in pain, “You got me good there.” He fell to the ground.  
Toris and Ravis heard loud cheers from the townsfolk. They gave each other concerned glances before flying away from Vladimir to investigate. Toris saw his friend dead on the ground. He and Ravis screamed in mourning.   
Toris hissed at the people, scaring them away from the body. He carefully picked his friend up before bursting into bats and flying the body away.   
Vladimir stepped out of the house, “What did you do?” He took his crossbow from Elisabetta.  
“I killed a vampire, that's what.” She sneered.  
“You did what? Why did you kill Eduard? Ivan liked him! Now he has more of a reason to attack! Do you have any idea what you've done?” Vladimir let out an exasperated sigh, “I'm a dead man. You've signed my death warrant!”  
Roderich stepped over to him, “Keep in mind, this is the first time anyone's killed a vampire all century. I think it's earned her a drink.”  
Vladimir glared at her, “Fine. You said you were here to help me? Well now I need it.”

 

The castle echoed the anguished screams of Toris and Ravis as they flew in. They carefully placed Eduard on the floor. Toris took a humanistic shape and pulled the arrows from Eduard’s collapsed body. He started on chest compressions in a frantic yet desperate attempt to find any solstice at reviving him. He could feel Eduard’s ribs crack beneath his hands. He screamed and pressed harder on his chest.   
A towering figure approached him. Toris looked up, Ivan taking shape in his vision that was blurred with tears. He whimpered something incoherent.   
Ivan extended a hand to him and pulled him up off the floor. He gave him a hug and gently pet his head, “Humanity is cruel. They kill without reason and all they do is take.”  
Toris wiped tears from his eyes, “Why can't they just leave us alone? We only kill what we need to to survive! We didn't even kill the Popescus!”  
Ivan glanced at Eduard’s body, “This just gives us more incentive to find the monster. Once we have him, we won't be doomed to this life anymore! We won't be forced to wander this earth alone!”  
“How can we do that when they keep interfering?”   
Ivan thought for a moment, “We lure them to a death trap.”

 

Elisabetta examined the Popescu Castle. It was smaller than most, but heavier armed. She looked forward to Vladimir, who was examining weapons that Roderich had made.   
“So, do you know where Ivan lives?” She asked.  
“No.”  
“How about what he's after?”  
“He's after me.”   
“Anything else you know about him?”  
“Not really.”  
“Have you ever even seen him?”  
“Once, when he took Milen from me.”   
“You're telling me that you don't know anything about this guy that you're supposed to kill? How have you survived this long?” She playfully mocked him.  
He glanced over his shoulder and glared at her, “Because Toris doesn't seem to want me dead. He's the one keeping me alive. He's playing with me. This is all some sick game to him!”  
She shrugged, “I don't know who Toris is, though I'm sure I'll figure it out.”  
“Who sent you, anyway?”  
“Zwingli Monster Hunters. My boss, Vash Zwingli is trying to make the world safer for both monsters and humans by eliminating the human killers and the monster killers. He's also trying to scientifically explain monsters and stuff like that. One of our scientists went rouge and ended up getting killed by Ivan. There's also a rumor that he managed to bring someone back to life, so if there is a corpse walking around we gotta take him back to the labs to figure out how he did it.”  
Vladimir thought for a moment, “This scientist's name wouldn't happen to be Ludwig Beilshmidt, would it?”   
“Actually, it is. How'd you know?”  
“His castle isn't that far off from here. The rumors are true. I saw the monster with my own eyes. It had white hair, red eyes, and it could speak. We always thought it murdered Ludwig. After Ludwig died, it dragged him off to a windmill and the townsfolk set it ablaze.” He stood up and stretched.  
“Did it die?” She thought about the description she'd been given and came to a conclusion on who it was.  
“I think so. Never saw it again after that happened.”  
She shot out of her seat to find Roderich, leaving Vladimir alone. He let out an irritated sigh as she left. He sat back down and continued examining the foreign weapons.   
After a few hours, he finally figured out how it worked and deduced that it was unnecessarily complicated for something that had the same effect as a crossbow. However, he found it useful that it could fire so many arrows at a time.   
He heard a slight tapping on the window. He looked up and saw Milen standing out in the rain. He was in human form much to Vladimir’s delight.   
Vladimir opened the window to invite him in, “Milen! You're human! Are you ok? Have you seen Nikki?”  
Milen pulled him in for a hug, “I'm sorry! I tried to stop them, but Ravis, he bit him! I tried! I honestly did! But I can't control it! I can't control myself!”   
Vladimir felt his heart break upon hearing the news, but forced himself to be strong, “Hey, it's ok! You never asked to turn into this.” He lead him to a couch and tried drying him off, “It's ok, you're home now!”  
“But the moon! In those clouds go back in hiding! Who knows what I'll do! Ivan, he gave the wolf an order, but I can't remember what it was! What if he let me out to kill you? The wolf practically worships Ivan! Anything he says goes!”  
Vladimir felt hesitant, “I'm sure it'll be ok. Were resilient and strong. Like cockroaches, we just can't be killed.”   
Milen smiled weakly, but his smile instantly flipped, “Oh no! The moon!”   
Vladimir glanced out the window and noticed that the moon was being revealed by clouds. He glanced back at his brother in a panic, “Milen! You have to fight it!”  
Milen’s body contorted, bending in ways that no human body should ever move. He screamed, but his voice became twisted like that of a wolf. Vladimir stepped back and watched with wide fearful eyes.  
Elisabetta poked her head in the room to see what all the noise was. Upon seeing the wolf, she bolted for the crossbow-like weapon and took her silver tipped arrows. He hurriedly loaded up the weapon and shot into Milen’s leg.   
Vladimir ran up to her, “Don't shoot him!”  
Milen leapt out the window and took off into a sprint.  
Roderich poked his head in too, “What's going on?”  
“Werewolf!” Elisabetta packed some weapons into a duffle bag and bolted out the door.   
Vladimir chased after her, “Roderich, if the wolf comes back, don't kill him!”  
Roderich watched as they left. He felt rather baffled by the fact that he couldn't kill the monster, but figured that Vladimir had his reasons.

Elisabetta followed the trail carefully. Vladimir caught up to her faster than she had anticipated. She handed him a gun with silver bullets.  
He angrily tossed the gun to the ground, “I will not shoot him!”  
“He's not your brother anymore! It's past the full moon, he's incurable! In about a year, his human body will decay and all that will be left of him is that thing! He may as well be dead!”  
“You knew he was my brother?”  
She guiltily stared down, “Yes.”  
“And you still tried to kill him? He's the only family I have left!”  
She rolled her eyes, “Nikki has to be alive! They kept Milen alive, why wouldn't they do the same to Nikki?”  
“No! They said they drained him!”   
“If Milen could survive a werewolf bite, then Nikki must have survived from whatever bite they gave him!”  
“What? No! Toris told me he was dead!”  
“Vampires and werewolves aren't exactly alive either. As I've said about werewolves, your human form rots and dies. Vampires are walking corpses! If they bit Nikki, then he must be ok.”   
Vladimir fell silent, “Ok.”  
“Good. Now let's find out where Milen’s going.” She angrily turned round and trudged on.   
The tracks lead to a large castle. Elisabetta turned to Vladimir, “What's this?”  
“Castle Beilshmidt. Thought it was locked away, why's Milen here of all places?”  
Elisabetta stooped down and examined the ground, noticing a pool of blood, “We're not alone. I think this was a trap set up by Ivan and the others. They must be trying to kill us. Whatever you do, be careful.” She stood up and approached the door. It opened with ease, allowing the two intruders in.   
Milen’s screech could be heard in the distance. Vladimir rushed towards it but was stopped by Elisabetta who understood that it was a trap.   
“He wanted us here. I think they plan on killing us. We should be vigilant.” She gently padded in the opposite direction of the screams.  
Vladimir was hesitant, but understood. He followed her resentfully. He glanced over to where the noise was coming from. He felt desperate to save his brother, but his better judgement told him to abide by Elisabetta’s orders. 

Toris watched as his prey took a different path than they were supposed to. He flew up to Ivan to report his findings.  
As he flew in, he saw a familiar blonde man in a case of amniotic fluid. He flew over, taking human form, “Ivan? What are you doing?”  
“We need to test a few things, and I'm not sacrificing one of my sisters. We need to use dead meat. I figured we use him since there'd be no advantage to keeping him dead or alive.” He hooked up the electrical cables to the casing.  
Toris bit his lip, “But he is! I was going to bring him back once we brought back your sisters!”  
Ivan scoffed, “Oh please. Feliks didn't even like you. Trust me, we need a test dummy.”  
“It doesn't have to be Feliks! We could use someone else!”  
“No, we need to use him. I know you were planning on running away with him once he was alive. You were never in this to help my sisters, you only had your personal interest in mind. But my sisters are more important than him. Besides, you don't need him, you have me.”  
Toris's eyes burned through Ivan with hate, “But I need him! I don't even have family like you do! All I have is him!”  
Ivan shook his head, “No, you have me. I'm all you need.”  
“If there's anything I don't need, it's you! Did you think I loved you?”  
“Well, yes. I took you, Ravis, and Eduard in to be my brides. Kind of hard for my spouses to not love me.”  
Toris stared at him feeling utterly baffled and angry, “I could never love you! The only reason I agreed to help you was so that I could revive him!” He gestured to Feliks, “Not to mention, Ravis is far too young to be your spouse! You disgust me!”  
Ivan glared at him, “You seem to forget, who gave you eternal life? Who turned you into what you are? Who saved you from those hunters? That's right, me.”  
“And what a remarkable life this is! Killing people just to survive another day! This isn't living, Ivan. This is hell! Besides, how were you to know that I'd rise up after you killed me?”  
Ivan smacked him, “Toris, you are to do as I say!”  
“First I'm your spouse and now I'm your slave? Just forget it! I won't be helping you anymore!” He flew upward.  
Ivan flew upward too and began attacking him. One of Toris’s bats dropped dead to the floor. Despite having a chunk of him dead, Toris managed to fly away. 

 

Elisabetta watched as bats flew out of a tower. She signaled Vladimir towards her, “What do you think is in there?”   
“That's the room where the monster was made. Should we go there?”  
She thought for a moment, “Yes. There's something in there, I know it.”   
The two crept up to the room. They saw Ivan preparing a large vat of this odd fluid. There was a person in there much to their surprise.   
Ivan turned his head, “I can hear your heart beats.”   
Elisabetta whispered to Vladimir, “I'll handle him, you prepare an escape, ok?”  
“Ok.” He slunk away.  
Elisabetta approached Ivan, “Hello. I'm not sure if we've met. My name's Elisabetta Hérvàry. You killed one of my friends, a tall guy with blonde hair and blue eyes, his name was Ludwig.”  
“I remember him. He died tragically a year ago. He was very helpful. He gave me power over God. He helped me kill a couple dozen people just to bring a simple man back to life. But then he got too connected to his monster to let me use it. I need that monster, ma'am.” He touched the spot over her heart and paused, “Odd. Most of the people I encounter have quick heart beats, but yours.. Why are you so calm? Don't I scare you?”  
“Of course not. I've encountered scarier beasts than you.” She sneered.  
He pulled his hand away, “I see.” He glared at her before turning into a swarm of bats. He attacked her from multiple sides, even began throwing her around. She shot at him, but none of her attacks were effective.   
Ivan took human form, allowing Elisabetta to shoot him with Roderich's crossbow. Ivan simply pulled the arrows from his body.   
She tried a full frontal attack, lunging her body at him. She managed to grab a silver stake from her bag as she lunged at him.  
“Your attempts of killing me are honestly amusing.” Ivan mocked as he drove her stake deeper into his chest, “I'm already dead.”  
Vladimir swooped in, grabbed her by her hips and slid down the makeshift zip line he'd made.   
“What the hell! I had him!” She complained.  
“Your weapons weren't doing any damage. Also, I have news about Toris and Milen!”  
The cord was cut and the two fell into the foliage beneath them.   
Elisabetta examined where they'd landed. It looked as if someone was living there.  
Vladimir got up, “Elisabetta! Werewolves are the only thing that can kill Ivan! That's why the wolf listens to him! If Ivan didn't have control, Milen would go rogue and would kill him!”  
“That logic doesn't make much sense, but go on. What about Toris?” She examined a footstep in the dirt.  
“I found one of his bats on the ground! It was dead! The individual bats can be killed!”  
She imitated the steps in the dirt, “Did you kill it?”  
“No, it was dead when I got there. I think Ivan attacked him!”  
She held a finger to her lips, “We're not alone.”   
Vladimir followed her anxiously, checking the skies for any bats.  
Elisabetta screamed, “Found the monster!”   
A tall white haired man turned his head towards the noise. Elisabetta’s heart skipped a beat upon recognizing his face.  
Vladimir stared in shock, “The monster!”  
The monster snarled, “Monster?” He approached them, his footsteps making thunderous booms as he stomped furiously, “So I'm the monster? Even when it was you who killed my God and then tried to kill me? And I'm the monster? I've done nothing!” He angrily swung his arms at Vladimir, “I've done nothing but exist! What can you say?”  
Elisabetta took tranquilizers out of her weapon bag while Gilbert was distracted with Vladimir. She managed a successful blow to his neck. 

 

Toris flew to the trees. He took human form and checked his body for any wounds. He looked far more injured than he felt, with deep gashes on his face, a small chunk of his side torn open, and many large deep gashes on his back. It wasn't the first time one of his bats had been killed, however, he hadn't taken such a beating last time this happened.   
He saw Elisabetta and Vladimir in the distance. There was another figure with them. He felt shocked upon recognizing him, the monster. He used to be rivals with Gilbert back when he was human. It had been so long since he'd thought of that time.  
Ivan had attacked his town, many were killed. Ivan also had two other female vampires with him then that were killed that night. Gilbert and Toris had both been bitten. The two had become best friends while they waited for their deaths. However, Toris didn't die, much to his surprise. Instead, he watched everyone else in the town die. Even his love, Feliks had died. He was devastated to have been cursed with such an existence.   
He spent a year alone, but eventually he was found by some hunters. He'd tried to fly away, but he was caught and one of his bats was killed. That was when Ivan found him. Ivan saved him.   
Toris found the motivation to keep going after finding out about Ludwig's project. He realized that he could use the monster that had once been Gilbert to bring back Feliks. That was all he wanted, but even that had been taken from him.

 

The following week, Vladimir and Elisabetta had planned a way to hide Gilbert from Ivan. Elisabetta knew that Vash would protect him, so that's where they planned on going. Vladimir had kept his distance from Gilbert, but was equally determined to save him. Elisabetta packed the last of her stakes into the last carriage. She peered over her shoulder to see Vladimir, who was packing Gilbert and Roderich into the other carriage.  
“Are you sure this is going to work?” Roderich asked.  
“Of course. He's more likely to attack me, but we also need to get Gilbert to safety.” Vladimir gave him a reassuring smile.  
Gilbert rolled his eyes, “If you need to get me to safety, then why am I in chains?”  
“Simple, you tried to rip my head off last week, remember?”  
Gilbert scoffed, but said nothing.  
Vladimir walked over to Elisabetta, “Ivan knows we have him, right?”  
“Yep. I can see Ravis in the distance.” She walked past Vladimir to coach the first carriage.   
He stared up at the sky and saw the small colony of bats in the distance. He sighed and made sure the horses could be easily freed.   
He heard a faint howling in the distance. His heart raced, knowing all too well that Elisabetta wouldn't be sparing Milen if she saw him.  
He hopped up and followed Elisabetta, who had already begun leaving. The howling grew louder, and Ravis could be heard screeching. Vladimir realized that this was some kind of war cry, but the two weren't even all that threatening.  
Ravis swooped up to them, “Where's the monster?” He demanded, bearing his fangs in the most threatening way he could.  
“With me, but I don't see you being able to catch him!” He sneered, making the horses go faster.   
Elisabetta looked over her shoulder, “Incoming cliff! Be ready!”   
Vladimir leapt up to the horses, and glanced over his shoulder to see Ravis struggling to keep up.  
Elisabetta and her carriage made it over the cliff without flaw. When Vladimir approached it, he released the carriage, freeing the horses and letting the carriage fall.   
Ravis screamed anxiously as he dove to catch the monster. He opened the carriage door and felt his heart sink. He tried flying upwards, but the explosive Vladimir had planted in the carriage went off, the burning stakes shot upward, killing each of Ravis’s bats. He screamed in agony as he fell to the ground, and with that he was gone.   
Vladimir caught up with Elisabetta, jumping onto her carriage, “It worked! We killed Ravis!”  
She smiled confidently, “Good, all that leaves is our little doggy problem then.”   
Vladimir froze upon hearing the howl. He looked over his shoulder and watched as Milen leapt onto the carriage.  
Elisabetta handed him the reins, “I won't make you kill him, but he's not going to stop until we do something about him!”  
Vladimir took the reins and watched as Elisabetta climbed up to fight him.   
Elisabetta panicked upon realizing that she didn't have her gun on hand, but attacked regardless. She whipped out her silver knife and defensively guarded Vladimir.   
Milen winced as the blade raked across his pelt. He angrily jumped on Elisabetta, but a swarm of bats flew through them, knocking Milen off the carriage and into the dirt. Elisabetta fell too, but the bats assisted her to the ground.  
Vladimir stopped the carriage and jumped off to assist Elisabetta. He froze as he saw the still black mass shed its fur.  
Elisabetta angrily shouted, “God fucking damn it!” She clutched her stomach in pain, “He bit me!”  
Vladimir tuned out Elisabetta as he approached his brother, “Milen?” He asked.  
The mass had lost all of his fur and had become human. Milen coughed out blood, and Vladimir could see the silver blade imbedded into his flesh.   
He sat down and held Milen's head in a comforting manner.  
“Vladimir, I'm so sorry.” Milen tried to pet his brothers face, but was too weak to before dying in his brother's arms.  
Vladimir pulled the corpse closer to him and let out an ugly sob.   
Roderich and Gilbert stepped out of the carriage, “What's going on? Did we kill them?”  
Elisabetta angrily pointed to Milen, “That son of a bitch bit me!”  
Gilbert stared at her in shock, “Do you think you'll die?”  
“Either that or turn into a wolf! We need to get our hands on a cure!” Roderich examined her bite, “It's not as bad as it could be. I think you'll be ok.”  
Elisabetta looked back up at the carriage roof, “Yeah, someone intervened.” She examined the trees and found a colony of blood covered bats, “Toris!”  
Toris looked up at the sky in fear, “Run!”  
Ivan swooped in, taking Vladimir, “Meet me at castle Beilshmidt on All Hallows Eve!” He screamed as he flew away.  
Elisabetta angrily confronted Toris, “What does he mean? What's going on on All Hallows Eve?”   
The bats fused together, “Every year he gathers up some noble vampires and throws a ball. It's normally to celebrate the creation of more vampires.”  
She nodded, “Ok, so, why'd you push Milen off of me? You've been on Ivan’s side this whole time, so why save an enemy unless there was something in it for you?” She was beyond pissed and in pain, but kept her composure.  
Toris scoffed, “I was never on Ivan's side! I was just trying to bring my friend back to life! I only did as he asked because we had a common goal, however, he fried Feliks to the point of no return.” The hate in his voice was like a venom.  
Elisabetta thought for a moment, “Can we trust you?”  
“I have nothing left in this world. Ivan took everything from me. If helping you means I get to watch Ivan die, then yes. However, if you have any ulterior motives that I don't know about then perhaps not.”  
Roderich approached Toris steadily, “I assure you, our job is to kill Ivan. He killed Ludwig, Vladimir's family, Elisabetta’s entire hometown, and your friend. We want nothing more than to see him perish.”  
Gilbert examined Elisabetta’s wound, “Where exactly would we find werewolf antivenom?”   
“Braginski manor. He's got a lot of it in case one of his newer wolves goes rogue.” Toris answered.  
Elisabetta turned to Roderich, “When's the next full moon?”  
“2 weeks, we have time.”  
“Good. Toris, do you know how to kill Ivan?”  
Toris nodded, “Only werewolves and the sun can kill him.”   
“Ok, we should save Vladimir and then forge a plan to kill Ivan, got it?” Her male companions nodded, “Good. To the Beilshmidt castle then.”

 

Roderich handed Toris his newest weapon, “This can create a blast of light brighter than the sun. We plan on using it in the castle, so we're gonna need you to stay out of it, ok?”  
Toris nodded, “And if you need help?”  
“Don't worry, Elisabetta’s got this.”   
“How about we only use that as a worst case scenario? Chances are, she's going to need a lot of help. Taking Vladimir won't be easy.”  
Roderich thought for a minute, “Ok. To activate the bomb, you need to rip this cork off. It'll pour a powder into the bomb that won't set for ten minutes, so, I guess that gives you enough time to get out.” Roderich went on more to explain how the bomb worked.  
Elisabetta was busy arguing with Gilbert, “You tried to kill him first time you saw him! Not to mention, Ivan wants to use you! He doesn't see you as an individual, only as a tool. It's for the best that you stay here!”  
Gilbert rolled his eyes, “I haven't been caught in the entire year I've existed! I'll be fine!”   
“No. If you're alone for even a second, he'll take you and use you!”  
Gilbert insulted her under his breath.  
She turned to face Roderich, “Where should we keep Gilbert while we rescue Vladimir?”   
Roderich thought for a moment, “We might need to bring him along.”  
“Not an option. That's like handing a toddler with Parkinson's a thin glass plate and expecting the plate to not be broken afterwards.”  
“Well, how about we lock him up in a mausoleum or something?” Toris suggested.  
Elisabetta pointed to Toris with an astonished smile, “That just might work.”  
“Use silver locks so that no one can get in. Silver burns to the touch.” Toris remembered when he stole Vladimir’s silver in placement of steel and slightly burned his hand, “It burns Ivan too, he's just better at hiding pain than anyone else I know.”  
Roderich whispered into Elisabetta’s ear, “He is surprisingly helpful, good thing we didn't kill him earlier.”  
“Trust me, I still want to. I'm also not entirely sure we can trust him. He could just be setting us up for a trap!” She whispered back.  
Toris glared at them, “I can hear your heartbeats, did you seriously think I couldn't hear you two whispering?”  
Roderich felt flustered, “I might have forgotten.” 

 

Vladimir forced open his eyes to see that he'd been chained to a bed. His neck hurt, and breathing felt impossible. He tried to speak, but couldn't feel any air escape his lungs. He anxiously clutched his throat, but was struck with pain. He felt small holes in his neck. He panicked more upon realizing what had happened.   
He tugged against his restraints and tried screaming, but all he could make out was a horse gasp. He felt sicker than he'd ever been in his life. His body ached and felt like he'd been drained. He tugged regardless though despite his pain.   
A clanging could be heard in the distance, alongside the familiar sounds of footsteps. He winced as the noise got louder than he'd expected it to be. But even still, the door opened, releasing an even louder sound.   
Ivan stepped into the room, “Good morning, sleepy. I was wondering when you'd wake up.”   
Vladimir stared in fear, “What are you going to do to me?” He choked out.  
“Invite you to see your baby brother. I know how much you've missed him, I also know that you need to eat. What better than to make him your first meal?”   
Vladimir’s eyes widened, “You couldn't possibly!” He felt the familiar stab of shock burn through his chest, “He's alive? Ravis said he'd drained him!”  
“All talk to demotivate you. He's very much alive, and I know you must be famished. It, alongside this painful dead emptiness and desire to have a colony are the only things we bats can feel. You see, the Popescu lineage is special because they can survive any bite. I know how painful it is to lose a sibling. I've lost both of my sisters and even all my lovers. It's truly painful. There's no worse pain in the world than to lose those you love. That's why I was thinking we form a truce. You get to feed off your brother and get to live eternally with him, and I get to have my way with your friends.”  
“But you're the reason I've lost my family in the first place!” Vladimir got a little more adjusted to speaking, “You couldn't possibly expect me to forgive you for that!”  
Ivan sighed, “I know you won't. However, should something happen to your brother it’d be a shame.”   
Vladimir couldn't see any emotion in Ivan’s eyes. He tried to find any sign of anger, sorrow, anything, but could find nothing.   
Vladimir felt broken. He couldn't bring himself to kill his baby brother no matter what Ivan threatened. At this point he was convinced that there was just no saving Nikki. He realized that he'd have to give up at some point. He tried to force back tears as he whimpered out a remorseful, “Have your way with him. He may as be dead.”   
Ivan widened his eyes and smiled, “You're giving up just like that? Ha! Won't Nikki be pleased to hear that!”   
“Just leave me alone! Haven't you done enough?” Vladimir cried out angrily.  
“I haven't even begun to scratch the surface with all the hurt I plan on bringing on to you. But first, it's All Hallows Eve and I have guests. I'd like you to look presentable. Here is one of Eduard’s outfits. I expect you dressed when I come back.” He dropped some clothes on the floor, unchained him, and left, locking the door behind him.  
Vladimir stared at the clothes in shock. He couldn't understand Ivan's motives, but obeyed in fear of what would happen if he disobeyed.   
He could feel a pair of fangs in his mouth. He carefully licked them to test how sharp they were. He accidentally pricked his tongue. He spat out the blood from his tongue and was shocked by the black inky color. He stared at his hands that had become sickeningly white. He worried if it was the same for the rest of his skin.   
He'd seen the blood and pale skin tone of vampires before, but to see it on himself came as quite a shock to him.   
Eduard's fancy suit fit him marvelously, though he didn't like the color.   
The loud clanging of the door echoed out through his head. He glanced over to Ivan, who was also dressed up.  
“Come now. It's time for the party.”

After locking Gilbert away, they headed off to the party. Toris lead the way being the only one who could hear his heartbeat.   
“This way.” He pointed towards a dark corridor.   
Elisabetta paused, “Don't you think that ballroom full of vampires can hear Roderich and my heartbeat? Who's to say you're not leading is into a trap?”  
He rolled his eyes, “Well, wolfie, they can't hear your heartbeat because of the wolf virus has been in your bloodstream for too long. And I made sure Roderich had a muffling jacket on. I can only hear one heartbeat, and it's in that corridor.”   
Roderich followed Toris. Elisabetta paused, “I smell something! Salt, why is there salt? Your stomachs can't handle solid foods.”  
“It sounds to me like someone’s crying.” Toris carefully opened the door and saw Nikki. He carefully approached him, concealing his fangs to look less threatening, “Where's your brother?”  
The kid whimpered and choked out, “He's been bit! Ivan wants him to eat me!”  
Elisabetta walked up to him, “No one's going to eat you. We just want to know where Vladimir is.” She turned to Toris, “Have any more of those mufflers?”  
Toris shifted through his weapon bag, “Here.”   
She placed it on Nikki, “Now they can't hear you. I need you to tell me where your brother is.”  
“At the party!”  
She sighed, “Of course. Ok, we need a change of plans.”  
Roderich thought for a moment, “You could smell the salt in the kid's tears, perhaps you can smell Vladimir.”  
“Alright, then I'm going to need something of his.”  
Nikki handed her a pendant, “This is a family heir loom that he gave me!”  
She took it, “Thanks kid. Roderich, get him to safety, Toris and I have the rest.”  
He picked him up, “Ok. Meet me at the mausoleum.”  
“Ok, see you in a bit.” She and Toris walked off, following Vladimir's sent.  
They approached the ballroom. Toris managed to steal two masks and handed one to her, “That way he won't spot us immediately.”  
She put hers on and entered the ballroom carefully. She noticed a mirror out of the corner of her eye. There wasn't a single human reflection.  
Toris took her hand, “They're about to dance. Be my partner and we might be able to take Vladimir.”  
She obliged. As they danced she caught sight of Vladimir, “That way.” She whispered.   
Toris nodded and the two waltzed on over. Elisabetta caught sight of the mirror and noticed that she was the only figure in it. She pulled away from Toris, “This isn't going to work, they can see me.”   
“Just roll with it.” He strode on up to Ivan while the two spun and took Vladimir's hand. Elisabetta took this as an opportunity to distract Ivan.  
“Hello master. Mighty fine party you got there.”  
“Thank you. I'm assuming you're one of the new ones?”  
“Why yes, and I must say, perhaps life is just better this way.”  
He smiled warmly, “It truly is. So, where are you from?”  
“Just a small Hungarian town. Very forgettable.”  
“Well it's wonderful you could attend the party. And I welcome you to the colony.”   
She forced a smile and nodded. She slunk away to find Toris and Vladimir.  
Toris prepared the bomb, “We gotta go now!”  
Vladimir felt relieved upon seeing Elisabetta, “Thank goodness you're here! Why is Toris here? Ivan said he was dead.”  
“He's with us now. He's helping us kill Ivan, then we're parting ways.”  
“Oh…”   
Toris took their hands, “Ok, yes, we're friends now, but there's a bomb that's going to literally melt us in a few minutes!” He ran out. They took cover by the mausoleum as debris from the blast shot out at them.   
Elisabetta noticed that Roderich and Nikki were nowhere to be seen. She unlocked the mausoleum and found the two tied up. She quickly untied them, “What happened?”  
“Ivan swooped in out of nowhere and took Gilbert!” Roderich answered urgently.  
She turned around and sprinted out. She caught sight of a boat with Gilbert who was chained up onboard. She bolted towards it in desperation. Vladimir and Toris followed her into the water and tried to hold her back.  
“Let go of me! We have to get him!” She growled, her voice sounding more canine than human.  
“He is armed and ready to shoot! We will save him! Just not now!” Toris tried dragging her out of the water, but both he and Vladimir were weak against her.   
She ripped them off her and swam up as close as she could, but a silver cage barrier was lowered, preventing her from reaching the boat. She roared in protest, but to no avail.   
Vladimir swam up to her, “It's ok! We'll save him! We'll even kill Ivan when we do. It will be ok.”  
She sighed in defeat, “Fine. But we do it as soon as possible.”  
They swam back to the others. Roderich handed Nikki to Vladimir, who hugged his brother tightly, “You're ok! Thank goodness! I was worried that I'd lost you!”   
Nikki hugged him back, “I was worried that the next time I'd see you you'd be drinking my blood!”   
“I could never do that to you.”  
Toris walked up to Vladimir, “I'm sorry about all the problems I caused you.” He murmured before raising his chin in an authoritative manner, “The Braginski castle was built to be hidden from the world. It would be impossible to lead you all there considering how not all of you can fly, and with our time restraints, we just don't have the time.” He peered over his shoulder at Elisabetta, “But I know a shortcut we can take through the Popescu Castle.”  
Elisabetta’s head whipped over to face Toris, “I trust you, just take us too Gilbert.”

 

Toris felt lost inside the castle. He'd never stepped foot on the castle floors and had always only been in one room before flying out. He caught sight of the room and walked in. The others followed him.   
Elisabetta packed some weapons, “What all do we need Toris?”  
“Well, he has many ghoul servants, they can be killed the same way you'd kill a human. I'm not so sure Roderich and Nikki should be going considering how the castle isn't meant for non monsters. I was thinking I could get Elisabetta’s cure, Vladimir could rescue Gilbert, and Elisabetta can be the one to kill Ivan. She's a werewolf, and her claws will be able to rip apart his flesh. Roderich, you can babysit Nikki.”  
Roderich looked relieved, “I can do that.”  
“Good. Then let's go.” He turned around and faced the map. He flew up and peeled it off, revealing a mirror.   
Elisabetta examined the mirror, “What is this? Ivan can't see his reflection, so why?”  
“Vladimir, what do you see?”  
Vladimir stared in shock, “It's a castle!”  
“Vampires can't see their reflection if the mirror is backed by silver. This mirror was backed with silver and blood however, making it a gateway. We can go through it.” He explained before walking through the mirror.  
Vladimir took Elisabetta’s hand, “Thank you for going back to save me. I hope I'll be able to repay the favor.” He walked through.  
Elisabetta looked back at Roderich, “If I don't come back, tell Vash that I retired.”  
“Don't talk like that. You'll be fine.”  
She paused, “Yeah.” She faced forward and walked through.

It was cold. When Elisabetta opened her eyes, she could see a large castle that was oddly shaped. She ran up to Vladimir and Toris, “How do we get in?”  
“Vladimir, Ivan will be hooking Gilbert up to the roof of one of the towers while he waits for lightning. Look for him there. Elisabetta, Ivan should come to you. Just do your best and go for the neck. Underneath that scarf of his is a wound he got before he turned, it can't heal because he's dead. Attack it and you might be successful. Just stay calm and you should have control over the wolf.” He fluttered away.   
Vladimir flew her up to a balcony before flying away on his own.  
She took in a deep breath as moonlight washed over her, “Here goes nothing.” She felt her body twist and break, forming shapes she'd never thought her body could do. But she stayed calm as she was instructed.  
Her fur was thick and brown. She could smell everything. She never realized how sweet Vladimir smelled, or how bloody yet oddly nice Toris smelled. There were many creatures that reeked of ink in the castle. She assumed they were the ghouls Toris spoke of. She caught sent of another bloody creature. She immediately recognized it as Ivan. He smelled as if he bathed in blood, it was more intense than how Toris smelled. At least he made an attempt to smell better than that.   
She heard a loud clanging and watched as Ivan strode into the room. He stared at her for a moment, “Ah, so that's why I couldn't hear your heartbeat at the party. Makes more sense now. So, how do you plan on doing this? Do we just wrestle for a bit before I kill you or can it be quick? I would like to revive my sisters.”  
She let out a low growl and leapt forward.

Toris tore and beat through hordes of ghouls. Blood soaked his hands and clothes, though he knew that their blood was like a poison and would only upset his stomach. He could see the room with Elisabetta’s cure in plain sight. He smiled weakly, knowing he had almost avenged Feliks.   
He reached the door and swung it open. The many syringes decorated the walls. Out of the corner of his eyes, he caught sight of a mirror. He spun around, not seeing it before. He was surprised at the sight, for it was his reflection. But vampires can't see their reflections he thought.  
He carefully stepped up to it and saw that Feliks was on his shoulder. He whipped around but couldn't find Feliks. He turned back to the mirror. There Feliks was, on his shoulder.   
He reached out and touched the glass, only to be met by an agonizing rush of fear. He pulled away and watched as the room slowly lost all light. A small flame appeared on the floor. Toris approached it before being distracted by the sounds of voices behind him. He spun around to see four familiar faces.  
Ravis spoke first, “Come back to us. Don't you miss your family?” His voice was cold and raspy.  
Eduard smiled gently, “It doesn't hurt that much. You should join us.”  
Gilbert placed a hand on his shoulder, “Your life has only brought you pain, so why go back to it?”  
Feliks ran a hand through Toris’s hair, “We miss you. Please, stay with us forever.”  
Toris caught sight of the mirror and saw that he was alone. He pulled away from the four, “No, you're dead. How can you be here?”  
“Oh come on, Toris.” Feliks mocked, “You're dead too. Just pass over with us!”  
He paused, “You're not my Feliks. Feliks told me to keep pushing through! He told me that he'd only rest in peace if I lived the life he couldn't! You're not real!”  
The four tried pushing him into the flame, but he flew upwards. He took a syringe and bolted out the door, turning human.   
The doors slammed behind him. He sighed and examined the syringe. He'd done it.

Vladimir found flying to be quite difficult, but he was managing. He caught sight of people-like figures on one of the towers. He could see Gilbert among them getting strapped to an odd machine. He flew over and pushed the weird creatures off the tower. He turned human and began trying to undo the straps.  
“Why are you helping me?” Gilbert asked in defeat.  
“I want you to have a chance to live your life!”  
“Even though my existence caused the deaths of so many people?”  
Vladimir stared into his eyes, “We've all seen more death than what life is worth, but that doesn't change the value of our experiences. Your brother brought you back to life because he wanted you to live the life you deserved, why take that from him?”  
Gilbert smiled weakly as he was freed. He and Vladimir bursted through Ivan's halls, attacking any ghouls that came their way. 

Elisabetta launched her body at Ivan's, trying to dig into his neck. His body fell apart, turning into bats. She jumped up, biting down on one of the bats. The life was squeezed out of it as it popped in her jaws like a balloon. The bats clumped together again, this time, Ivan had a deep wound in his stomach. She lunged at him again, digging into his body. With him more focused on his abdominal wounds, she could get a good grip on his neck.   
She clamped down, the inky black blood staining her fur. She squeezed tightly until he stopped moving. She released him victoriously.  
She could hear three sets of feet running towards her. She recognized their scents to be those of her friends. She relaxed and calmly approached them.  
Toris punctured the syringe into her fur. Her body contorted to its normal state and she smiled warmly at her friends, “We did it. Ivan's dead.” She inhaled deeply, her nose only picking up what it normally would. 

Roderich had tried putting Nikki to bed, but the kid was far too interested in the weapons Roderich had made. However, Nikki tired himself out and was asleep by the time Vladimir, Gilbert, Toris, and Elisabetta came back. Roderich looked up from Nikki and smiled, “I knew you'd make it home!”  
Elisabetta hugged him, “Roderich, I want to retire. I don't want to do this anymore.”  
He hugged her back with a smile, “I understand. I have to go back however. I hope you have fun with whatever you end up doing.”


End file.
